Agriculturists, such as farmers, orchard growers, gardeners, florists, and plant nursery operators, are all victims of the economic ravages which result from the consumption of plant foliage by various insect herbivores such as beetles and aphids. Heretofore, the principal method for controlling the damage from these sources has been the application of insecticides to the foliage. Insecticides are effective and economical in a superficial sense for the control of such pests in that they are economical for killing such pests. However, almost all of them have severe ecological disadvantages. For example, most of the pesticides used to control beetles are poisonous not only to humans, but also to wild animal life and birds as well as the pests they are intended to control. Furthermore, they are also poisonous to beneficial insects such as honeybees and butterflies, and predaceous insects such as ladybugs and the praying mantis. This latter effect has become so widespread that the honeybee population in the United States has been depleted by 20-25% in recent years. Such reduction in the population of honeybees, as well as other pollinating insects, has in many instances resulted in a substantial reduction in the agricultural yields of plants that depend on insect pollination, such as fruit trees, vegetables and floral species.
Though there are many organic farming methods which can reduce such ecological damage, those methods are frequently more expensive and less effective. For example, the planting of crops which beetles do not feed on in the vicinity of plants which are attacked by beetles and other herbivores can be limitedly effective. However, there remains a drastic need for economic means of controlling damage by insect herbivores, especially beetles, without simultaneously incurring risk either to humans, wild animal species, including birds, or to other insect species. In other words, there exists a long felt, widespread need for a method of controlling damage to crops by insect herbivores without incurring the risks of (1) poisoning the plants being treated, (2) poisoning the persons applying the treating material, (3) poisoning people who eat the treated plants, (4) poisoning animal species who come into contact with such treated plants and the materials for their treatment and (5) killing beneficial insect species on or in the vicinity of the treated plants.